Rios was awarded the Siemens–RMIT Fine Art Scholarship Award 2009 for his interactive work Sand-Clock, and has just completed his PhD, which was recognized as the first interactive thesis in E-book format for electronic tablets.

Maze-Lab is made up of intentionally unfinished works to be activated and completed by the public, who ends up being, not only a spectator, but a co-author as well. Maze-Lab contrasts medieval, renaissance and baroque labyrinthine designs with algorithmically-based geometry and optical illusions. Suddenly the outside participant discovers that through search and logics he participates in finding possible mathematical solutions in an exercise that frees him for a while from everyday pressures and stress.

Four weeks after having finished his doctorate studies in Visual Arts and having created the first interactive thesis in an E-book format for electronic tablets (pads) at the RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in Melbourne, Australia, the multidisciplinary artist, Ernesto Ríos, presents his twentieth solo exhibition: Maze-Lab.

Maze-Lab gathers artistic works based on labyrinthine structures generated within the conceptual framework of a “ludic” interactive laboratory, which invites the public to participate directly.

Humberto Eco’s work, “Opera Aperta” (Open Works) and his concept of an unfinished, incomplete work has been a constant guide to me in my work.

The Maze-Lab series is based on experimentation, playing games and the combination and interaction between new techniques and traditional and unusual materials. I explore how the simplest interactions, such as caressing sand with one’s hands, can express spiritual emotions and resonances.

In our modern society, constantly more and more conditioned by technology, it is necessary to put our feet back on earth, not only metaphorically, but literally speaking. It is very convenient that we turn our sight toward Nature and experiment with materials and elements found in Nature. Technological tools, more than amazing us, should be subordinate to satisfying our basic needs.

Maze-Lab is made up of intentionally unfinished works to be activated and completed by the public, who ends up being, not only a spectator, but a co-author as well. Maze-Lab contrasts medieval, renaissance and baroque labyrinthine designs with algorithmically-based geometry and optical illusions. Suddenly the outside participant discovers that through search and logics he participates in finding possible mathematical solutions in an exercise that frees him for a while from everyday pressures and stress.

Maze-Lab will be open to the public from October 10 till November 20 at the Design Center of the RMIT University, in a building considered vanguard and self-sustainable and a contemporary icon, creation of the outstanding architect, Sean Godsell and the Pedde Thorp Firm. It is he who states that, “The purpose of the Design Hub is to house a wide range of design-research and post-graduate studies,” which in some way, makes RMIT world leader in design research.